New live broadcast can't save old Tianya

Do you know Tianya Community? What do you think of its self-rescue activities? Starting from the self-rescue of Tianya Community, this article details the self-rescue process and the impact of selling feelings on the brand. It is recommended for students who want to understand brand operations.

An action to restart Tianya is in full swing.

On May 28, a charity event to restart Tianya live broadcast was officially launched by a group of Tianya users on a voluntary basis, attempting to raise 3 million yuan through 7 days and 7 nights of live broadcast to restart Tianya.

It’s just that ideals failed to defeat reality, and the current performance of restarting Tianya is not ideal.

Although there are countless netizens who have deep feelings for Tianya, in the face of the reality of live streaming sales, poor product selection and planning have become a hurdle that prevents netizens from placing orders.

Feelings alone can't save the world, right?

1. A 24/7 live streaming event

"Tianya is in trouble now. It's time for the people of Tianya to help."

In April this year, due to the sudden inaccessibility of Tianya Community, former Tianya Executive Editor Song Zheng and former employees launched the "Restart Tianya" campaign, which aimed to raise RMB 3 million to pay for the telecommunications room fee and restart Tianya. The fundraising method was to raise the sentimental tax that Tianyaers were willing to pay through a 24/7 live broadcast.

"If we must say goodbye, it should be a decent way. All users should be allowed to download their youthful memories before leaving," it reads in the action plan for restarting Tianya.

The action of restarting Tianya has also received support from many Tianya users. Some netizens shouted, "If you dare to broadcast for 7 days, I dare to buy 7 days!" More than one netizen expressed his willingness to donate directly.

But it turns out that the "sentiment tax" is not easy to collect.

At 8 pm on May 28, Restart Tianya officially started broadcasting on Douyin. The live broadcast has been going on for two days, but it is still a long way from its goal of raising RMB 3 million.

According to FeiGua data, the sales of the "Restart Tianya" live broadcast room on the night of the launch were 25,000 to 50,000 yuan; at the end of the day, the live broadcast sales rose to 75,000 to 100,000 yuan, which is only one-thirtieth of the funds raised.

The number of viewers in the live broadcast room was not high. When Bian Niu Shi entered the live broadcast room at different times on the 29th and 30th, the number of viewers did not exceed 1,000. On the evening of the 29th, even when connecting with Tianxia Bachang, the author of "Ghost Blowing the Light", the number of viewers was only around 600; the number of viewers was even lower at other times.

The selection of products for this live broadcast, the planning of the live broadcast room, and the performance of the anchors have all been questioned by netizens.

In fact, there are quite a few products to choose from in the live broadcast room. Currently, the products on the shelves of the shared cart include health care products, clothing, books, and household items such as toothpaste, dental floss, and food. However, these do not seem to fit the positioning of the live broadcast crowd. On the 29th, when the anchor was introducing the product, there was a message saying, "It's so embarrassing for a group of grown men to listen to this."

Currently, the Tianya-related items on the shelves include commemorative T-shirts for the restart of Tianya, commemorative cards of Tianya major events, and related published books, but these are not enough for middle-aged people who are eager to find memories in the live broadcast room.

Regarding the planning and layout of the live broadcast room, netizens who were watching also gave tips and suggestions from time to time: "The host has gone offline", "The teleprompter is placed too high, and the front table is too low. It is recommended to replace it with a high stool and a high table", "Put the teleprompter down."

The young anchors born after 1995 obviously couldn't find common topics with the uncles in the live broadcast room, so one netizen suggested, "We have old planners who can plan the copywriting and Douyin for us."

2. Is live streaming a life-saving straw?

Founded in 1999, Tianya Community is one of the first BBS forums in China. At its peak, it had more than 130 million registered users. Phenomenal online literary works such as "Ghost Blows Out the Light", "Things About the Ming Dynasty" and "Go Away Tumor" were born here. Ning Caishen, Tianxia Bachang, Ten Years of Cutting Wood and others also made their fortunes here.

However, with the rapid rise of mobile Internet, Tianya, which failed to keep up with the times, not only failed to transform, but also failed to find a suitable business model, and was thus gradually eliminated.

On April 25, the news that Tianya Community was closed and its website and app were inaccessible sparked heated discussions; on May 27, Tianya Community officially released an announcement stating that the reason for suspending access services was that it encountered liquidity difficulties.

It also pointed out that due to liquidity difficulties, the accumulated overdue telecom IDC fees in recent years have reached a point where they cannot be coordinated or negotiated. In addition, the platform's own technical problems need to be improved, requiring technical upgrades, data reconstruction, and product slimming, so this decision was made.

On May 27, the day before the official launch of the Tianya restart event, Tianya founder Xing Ming responded by restarting the Tianya Douyin account, saying that he would not abandon the Tianya community and promised that user data would not be lost.

However, it is still unclear whether it is possible to successfully raise 3 million yuan to restart Tianya through live streaming sales initiated voluntarily by netizens.

It is worth mentioning that many people and companies have successfully reversed their fate through live streaming.

For example, in December 2021, Yu Minhong led New Oriental to transform into live streaming and created the "Dongfang Selection" live streaming room. Half a year later, with the popularity of Dong Yuhui's bilingual live streaming, the number of fans of Dongfang Selection soared by one million in a single day, and sales exceeded 10 million overnight. At the same time, New Oriental Online's stock price soared, with the increase once approaching 100%.

Luo Yonghao, who was in debt of 600 million yuan, successfully became one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of Live Streaming in China" by selling goods through live streaming, and brought "True Return" to its finale.

Celebrities, influencers, even producers and economists are also on the road to transforming into live streaming sales. Recently, Yu Zheng conducted his first live streaming sales on Douyin; economist Ren Zeping also began to frequently sell hair growth products.

But not all live streaming sales are successful. Take Yu Zheng’s live streaming as an example. In the three-hour live streaming, the number of viewers exceeded 1.24 million, and the sales volume was only 711,000 yuan. This result is not high compared with other stars’ sales volume of millions or tens of millions.

Yu Zheng himself also said in the comment section of his Weibo account: I didn’t have time to select products, so I just found a few things I usually use, contacted a few merchants, and gave some bonuses to fans before 618. First, there was no publicity, and second, I might not do it again.

Although Coco Tree has earned a wave of traffic with its eye-catching live broadcast room, it has never solved the problem of being well-received but not popular. For example, although a live broadcast on Douyin has nearly 100,000 viewers, the sales volume is only between 10,000 and 25,000 yuan.

Whether it is a star, a company or an internet celebrity, it is not easy to make money in the live broadcast room, especially for Tianya users who want to restart Tianya. If you are not well prepared in product selection, planning, after-sales and other links, the effect will naturally be greatly reduced.

This also shows from another perspective that sentiment alone is not enough to save Tianya.

Author: Lin Xiaobai

Source: Bianews (ID: bianews8); accurate, fast and in-depth technology media